LAUGHTER, THE BEST MEDICINE

Note: My server, Blogspot, isn't loading my pictures. I'll post this and try downloading them on my next post that folows.

After church, Norma said she wanted to treat us to lunch. So we went down to the St. John's River and ate on the waterfront.

Heard the one about the preacher preaching up a storm about booze? "We need to take all the booze in this county and throw it in the river," he said. At the close of his message, the head deacon came forward and said, "For our closing hymn, let us sing Shall We Gather At the River?" Haha.

After a lovely lunch where we saw the unique drawbridge go up for a tall boat, we took a boat ride on the water taxi and saw our spectacular buildings and landmarks. Oh, my, how I love this city. I was born and raised here, went off to Southeastern University and met a preacher boy, and we fell in love and married, then spent years in the ministry, and then God brought us back here, BACK TO THE CHURCH I GREW UP IN, FOR US TO PASTOR IT!! Very unusual case!

Then, after the boat ride, we walked along the river's edge, and a street musician was playing the saxophone. He always starts playing kids' songs when kids approach (it's one of our favorite places to go; that's how I know). I gave little Claudia and Lorenzo dollar bills to put in his cap on the sidewalk, and Lorenzo grabbed his cap! It was so funny. We rushed up to him as the musician was playing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and we made him put it back, and then I gave the children several more dollar bills to put in. He played several kids' songs, and I sang along (why didn’t the rest of y'all sing with me, how about it?), and he said, "Man, chilluns, yo' granny can sing!"

We got home, and my face started burning. Put Solarcaine on it. Norma's face was red, too. Guess we got a slight sunburn from sitting on the upstairs patio eating our lunch. I got to worrying about these meds I'm on. Steroids. Anti-seizures. Antacids. Xanax as needed (though I have enough euphoria without it; oh, Norma just told me take one; she said it's not for euphoria; it's to calm me and also to help with the other drugs). Was I supposed to stay out of the sun, and now I'm having adverse reactions, namely frying externally and probably internally (how my writer's mind likes to imagine). I pulled out the warning papers and read the possible side effects and just about turned green. Oh, the awful things that can befall you. I just laid my hands on the papers and said, "Lord, protect me. Help me." And each time I've taken these pills, I've prayed Milton's standard mealtime blessing: "Lord, let this be health and strength to my body. Amen."

Yesterday, while Milton took the kiddies to the zoo with its wonderful playground and anything-a-kid-could-desire-almost, we girls went to the mall. Norma wouldn't let me drive. "You're on anti-seizure meds now." Poo! So Jennifer drove. Julie got in to drive us back. The car wouldn't move. "Where's your emergency brake release, Mom?" Julie asked. "Emergency brake? We never use the emergency brake!" She's pumping on it, driving it further into the carpet, and I'm saying, "Stop, stop," and Jennifer's saying, "I'm sorry I put it on. We always use emergency brakes in San Juan (they have hills all over)," and Norma says, "Well, get out the manual," and I whip it out, and Julie's saying, "Isn't there a release up under the dash?" and she's grabbing and grabbing up there, and I say, "Oh, there's a nice redneck man getting out of a truck. They always help ladies in distress," and we're all dying laughing, and I jump out and wave my hand and holler, "Hey, Mister, can you help us get this emergency brake off," and he comes running over and kneels on the pavement and reaches his hand under the dash, and I'm reading the manual: "If you can't release it by the lever under the days, seek help immediately from the dealer," and we're all laughing, and finally, finally, he pops it, and it releases, and we're finally on our merry way, laughing our hearts out.

It was a nice little thing to happen. Laughter is healthy, just like the Bible says. "A merry heart does good like a medicine." Called internal jogging, laughter releases endorphins that are very beneficial, both psychologically and physiological. Laughing 100 times a day is equivalent to 10 minutes of exercise on a rowing machine. The average 4-year-old engages in laughter 400 times a day, yet the average adult laughs only 15 times a day. More on laughter later. I've written published articles about it. There's lots of good stuff on it.

May God bless and keep you all.